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From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Give them convincing reasons

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date August 1, 2026
No Comments on Title: Give them convincing reasons

Date: August 02, 2026

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 15, No. 14

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace to you without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the month of August 2026. My prayer is that God will fulfil all His good plans for your life in the month and also use you to fulfil His good plans for many others, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we see in the bible, it does not matter how insignificant or wicked people may be in life, God is able to fulfil His good purpose for their lives and even use them as instruments through which He will bless others. All He needs is to get them to listen attentively to what He has to say to them. And before they even realise what is happening to them, He will have turned things around for their good.

For example, when our Lord Jesus met a Samaritan woman by the well of Jacob at Sychar, all He wanted was for the woman to listen to what He had to say to her. And was she willing to listen to Him? No! She just wanted to fetch water and disappear. (Cf. John 4)

Why, then, did she not want to speak to anybody at the time? The reason was that she was trying to run away from the truth about the problems of her life. But when the Lord, by divine revelation, began to expose the truth that she was running away from to her, she began to give Him attention.

And when the Lord was done with her, she ran inside her town to call all the people she could find to come and listen to Him. Look at what is said about that in the bible:“Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.” (John 4:28-31NIV)

Did you see that? That woman was so touched by the things Jesus shared with her that she went inside her town and get the people there to come and see Jesus. But she was not someone that we could refer to as a good woman. She was a woman that had been with five different husbands. And the man she was with when Jesus met her was not even her husband. He was just someone that they were both committing fornication together.

So, she could not have been someone with a good reputation in that town.But even though the Lord knew everything about her bad character, He did not condemn her. He only spoke to her about the need for her to know God truly and begin to worship Him in spirit and in truth. That was what turned her life around. That was what made her forget about whatever bad reputation she had and run to tell everyone she could find in her town to come and see Jesus.

And through her, the Lord Jesus was able to bless many people in her town. Now if God could use a woman that did not have a good reputation to change the lives of many in her town, think of what He could do with those who have good reputations. Yet He is unable to use many of us who have good reputations to bless those around us.

Why? We are not giving them convincing reasons to come to Him through faith in Christ Jesus. That Samaritan woman gave the people of her town convincing reasons to come to the Lord Jesus. And she did not speak to them casually about her experience with Him. If she had spoken to them casually about it, they would not have come to Him for salvation.

So, if we want people to come to the Lord Jesus through us and be blessed, we cannot be casual about it. And we will not be casual about it, if our lives have indeed been changed by Him. Has your life, then, been indeed changed by the Lord Jesus Christ? If it has been changed by Him, begin to give those around you convincing reasons to come to Him, convincing reasons to listen to His word, convincing reasons to pray to Him and convincing reasons to give their lives to Him. And as you do so, the Spirit of God will work with you in changing their lives and bringing glory to God. Have a lovely August 2026.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: You don’t know it all

Post author By Praise Kolawole
Post date July 30, 2026
No Comments on Title: You don’t know it all

Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 11

“Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” (1 Cor 8:1-2NIV)

Those words were penned down by Paul for the Corinthian brethren about two thousand years ago. Yet they are still very much relevant today. And they are calling our attention to the need to always be ready to learn and not assume that we know everything about every matter.

Now from what Paul says in that text, there are three basic things we must know about knowledge. The first is that everybody knows something. In other words, however ignorant someone may be, they still possess some measure of knowledge. They may not know how to fully utilise the knowledge they have. But they know something. So, don’t ever think of anyone as utterly ignorant.

The second thing we need to know about knowledge is that it is capable of producing pride. Knowledge in itself is not meant to produce pride. Rather, it is meant to enlighten, instruct and educate. But it can become a vehicle for conveying pride in the hand of the one that has it. And where that is the case, it will not benefit or build people up as it should.

As Paul shows us in that text, as good as it is to possess useful knowledge, if that knowledge is not being handled by love, it will not build anybody up. On the contrary, it may end up destroying people. For instance, those who make atomic bombs or nuclear weapons do so with knowledge, great knowledge. But how beneficial is their use of this great knowledge to humanity? I am sure you know the answer.

So, unless love is the thing motivating the use of the knowledge we have, it will not do anybody good. It will only ruin lives, homes and even nations. Knowledge, then, is not good in the hand of a loveless person.

The third thing we need to know about knowledge, as we see in our opening text, is that no one has enough of it. That means I don’t know it all and you don’t know it all. Yes, you may think that you know enough or everything about a matter. But that is because you have not yet met someone that will expose your knowledge gap. The day you meet that person is the day you will see that you don’t yet know as much as you should. And that may come with some measure of disgrace, especially if you have been acting in pride about what you think you know.

Therefore, regardless of what you think you know about a matter, always assume that there may be someone else somewhere who knows about it more or better than you. That way, you will be ready to listen to others, learn more and perfect your knowledge. But if you are continually going about with the air of ‘I know it all’, never wanting to keep quiet to listen and learn from others, a day may come when your poverty of knowledge will be exposed in a very shameful way. What, then, will you use to cover your shame?

An expert in the law of Moses, for instance, once asked Jesus about the greatest of the commandments of God. And the Lord answered him in a very direct way. But instead for him to just take the answer and begin to act on it, he tried to show himself as highly knowledgeable by further asking the Lord, “Who is my neighbour?” That, of course, prompted the Lord to tell him a story, the story now popularly known as ‘The good Samaritan’. And when He was done telling the story, the foolishness and self-righteousness of the man had been exposed. So, he went away disgraced. (Cf. Luke 10:25:37)

Now you don’t have to disgrace yourself in a similar manner. And you won’t, if you will continually remind yourself that you don’t know it all and be willing to learn from others. Truly, others may not have much to teach you. But whatever little knowledge you are able to gain from them may someday be the difference between failure and success or honour and disgrace for you. So, mind yourself.

Pastor's Desk

Title: Proving the genuineness of our faith

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date July 25, 2026
1 Comment on Title: Proving the genuineness of our faith

Date: July 26, 2026
Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 13

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am pleased to welcome you to the last week of the month of July 2026. My prayer is that God will see to it that your faith does not fail, irrespective of what Satan may throw at you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the things we see in Scriptures is that God, from time to time, allows Satan to test His children. And this is not so that they may fall. Rather, it is so that the genuineness of their faith in Him may be proven and that glory may be brought to Him through their steadfastness. (Cf. 1 Peter 1:6-7)

For example, one of the reasons that God allowed Job to be tested by Satan was that it would become clear to Satan that Job’s faith in Him was genuine and not counterfeit. Before the testing, Satan had told God that the reason Job was faithful to Him was that he was enjoying His blessings and protection. In other words, if God would take away Job’s protection and allow him to afflict him, he would stop serving Him and begin to curse Him instead. (Cf. Job 1&2)

How, then, would God prove Satan wrong about Job? It was by allowing him to test him. And did Job fail? No, he did not fail. Why? The reason was that God kept him. God did not allow Satan to tempt him beyond what he could bear. Also, God strengthened him to endure the temptation.

In like manner, God is able to keep us too when we are being tempted by the devil. How? First, as He did in Job’s case, He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. Second, He will equip us with everything we need to walk in victory over Satan’s temptations. (Cf. 1Corinthians 10:13)

But we also must have the right attitude towards the temptations or challenges coming our way. How? First, we must not think we can overcome them with our wisdom or effort. Otherwise, we will disappoint ourselves as Peter did when he denied the Lord Jesus. Second, we must rely solely on God for everything we need, including patience, to overcome our trials. Third, we must continually remind ourselves that God is faithful and will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear but will sustain us all through the period of the trial.

Now where people do not know these things in order to act on them, when they are being tried by the devil, they may find themselves grumbling against God or relying on the flesh for what only the Spirit of God can do. And that will result in their downfall, if they are not shown mercy. So, regardless of how great or little what Satan is confronting you with may be, keep these things in mind to act on them. And you will not be put to shame but be made to experience great times of refreshing and restoration from the Lord.

Have a lovely week.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Appearances not enough

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date July 23, 2026
1 Comment on Title: Appearances not enough

By: J.O. Lawal
Date: July 22, 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 10

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”” (1 Sam 16:7NIV)

When did God say the words of our opening text to Samuel? It was when he went to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king over Israel, that is, in place of King Saul.

As the account goes, it was God Himself who had told Samuel to go to Jesse’s house to anoint as king one of the man’s sons that He had chosen. Interestingly, God did not tell Samuel who among the sons of this man He had chosen as king. He just told him to go there first and then expect Him to show him who the king was among the man’s sons.

But then, when Samuel saw Jesse’s first son, Eliab, we are told in the bible that he thought it was he that the Lord had chosen as king. So, without even asking God any question about the young man, he immediately said, “Here is the Lord’s anointed before Him.” And how many times have we also acted like Samuel, thinking we knew what was on the mind of God, only to realise that we have missed it?

See, we cannot determine the mind of God simply on the basis of what we see, hear, feel or think. That is because what we see, hear, feel or think about a matter may not be telling us enough things or everything we need to know about that matter. But God can do that. He can tell us everything about any matter, that is, beyond what we can see, hear, feel or think about it. That is because He sees it all. He knows all things about every matter and every person, however hidden those things may be.

In any case, before Samuel would commit a blunder in Jesse’s house by anointing the wrong person, God quickly told him not to consider the appearances of the sons of the Jesse coming to him. Why? The reason was that their appearances were not enough to show him or tell him all that he needed to know about them, about their fitness to be king. He would need divine revelations to know that. Yes, he would need divine revelations to know the one among them that was king on his inside.

Now that was exactly what happened. Though Jesse first had seven of his sons stand before Samuel, there was none of them that had what it would take to be God’s king on his inside. And they had to wait for David to be brought in from where he was looking after his father’s flocks before the king God had chosen was found and anointed. (Cf. 1 Sam 16:6-13)

What, then, do we learn from all this? One of the lessons of this is that we cannot tell whether someone is great or small by merely looking at their externals. Judging by David’s appearance and life’s circumstances at that time, no one would take him for a king. But God, who created him, had already put in him what would make him a king of kings. If anyone, then, ignored or maltreated him before he was publicly anointed by God as king, just because nothing about him looked special, would the person not be doing so to their own disadvantage? They would!

Also, by merely looking at the physical appearance of our Lord Jesus and his birth circumstances, no one would take him for the Saviour of the world and Lord of everything God has created. In fact, when Nathaniel first heard about him, his remark was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But when he came to Jesus and He began to tell him where he had been that day, he realised that his focus on the externals had made him miss it. So, he quickly apologised and said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel.” (Cf. John 1:44-49)

So, don’t ever again judge anyone’s worth in life only on the basis of what you can see, feel, hear or think about them. Instead, judge them on the basis of what God has revealed to you about them. And if He has not yet revealed anything to you about them, just relate to them with love and respect. That way, you will not be dishonouring someone that may tomorrow be in the position of protecting, honouring or elevating you.

In like manner, don’t judge your worth in life on the basis on your life’s circumstances. Instead, judge your worth only on the basis of divine revelations. That is because only God knows the worth of the things He has deposited on your inside. And unless He reveals it to you, you will either underrate yourself or overrate yourself, none of which is good for you. So, begin to daily seek divine revelations of who you truly are on the inside by giving yourself to prayer and the word of God. That way, you will never again look down on yourself or allow anyone to look down on you, for you will know that your place in life is special.

Cheers!

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: There Shall Be Showers of Blessing

Post author By Praise Kolawole
Post date July 18, 2026
No Comments on Title: There Shall Be Showers of Blessing

By: Omotola Dunsin Babarinde
Date: July 19, 2026
Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 11

Beloved: grace and mercy be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Redeemer. I welcome you with gladness into another week of this month, the month of July 2025. My prayer is that every blessing you have freely received from God will work in your life in the week to make you excel in all that you do. Amen.

As we begin this new week, I want to encourage you with these words of the Scripture:

“And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” (Ezekiel 34:26KJV)

Every child of God desires to experience His blessings in their lives. However, God’s promise is not just for a little blessing but for showers of blessing—abundant, overflowing and timely blessings. Just as rain refreshes dry ground and brings fruitfulness, God’s blessings bring renewal, restoration and increase to every area of people’s lives.

What, then, are showers of blessing? First, we have spiritual blessings. These come to us as salvation and forgiveness, gifts of the Holy Spirit and fruit of the Spirit, resulting in spiritual growth. And remember that our Lord Jesus, in John 7:38-39, promises rivers of living water to those who believe in Him. These are rivers of the Holy Spirit. And those of us who have Him in our lives already have these rivers of His blessing flowing in us and through us.

Then we have material blessings. God provides for His children’s needs, opening all kinds of doors for their promotion, progress and welfare. That is why Paul, in Philippians 4:19, says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

In addition, we have blessings of restoration. God restores what has been lost. He turns sorrow into joy. Joel 2:25 says, “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten…” So, as God’s blessings are working in our lives, we can expect Him to restore to us things that we have lost.

But then, even though God’s blessings are readily and freely available for all men, certain conditions must be met for people to receive and enjoy them. What are these conditions? First, people must repent and return to God. Sin can hinder the receiving or the manifestation of God’s blessings. (Cf. Isaiah 59:1–2)

Second, obey God’s Word. Obedience to God brings divine favor (Deuteronomy 28:1–2). Third, be faithful in serving God. God rewards those who diligently seek and serve Him (Hebrews 11:6). Fourth, live by faith. Believe and embrace God’s promises, even when you cannot yet see them (Hebrews 6:12).

In conclusion, no matter how dry your situation may seem at the moment, God is able to make you experience showers of His blessing every day. Therefore, trust Him, remain faithful and continue walking in obedience. The same God who promised showers of blessing is faithful to fulfill His Word. I pray that God will cause every dry area of your life to experience great showers of His blessing, as you go this week, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: At the set time

Date: July 15, 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 9

“I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everything man does, both good and bad.”” (Eccl 3:17TLB)

What point is Solomon making in our opening bible text? It is that there is nothing we do here on earth that God will not reward us for, not just in heaven but also here on earth.

But then, the time or season that God will judge and reward us for whatever we do, good or bad, is not up to us to determine. Rather, it is up to Him to determine.

All of this is why we need to give ourselves to doing only what is good and righteous in His sight. And even if we should do anything wrong in His sight, we should lose no time to seek and obtain His forgiveness. Otherwise, at the set time or in the right season, He will reward us or our descendants for our deeds, whether good or bad.

For example, when the Shunammite woman began to take care of Elisha anytime he came to her town, she did not know when God would reward her or how He would reward her. She was probably just waiting for a heavenly reward from Him. But a day came when God moved the prophet to minister to her. That, of course, was the end of her barrenness. And she and her family would afterwards go on to experience more of God’s reward for her generosity at some other times in very spectacular ways. (Cf. 1 Kings 4&8)

So, if you are doing good and are not yet seeing God’s reward for it, don’t lose heart. Instead, continue to do good. That is because, at the set time, God will surely reward you. Interestingly, the reward may even extend to your descendants after you. So, always look beyond yourself when expecting God’s reward for obeying Him by doing good. That is because He is able to do immeasurably more than what we ask or think, according to His power that is at work in us. (Cf. Galatians 6:9 & Ephesians 3:20)

In like manner, if you are doing evil, God will surely reward you for it at the set time, if you fail to repent and receive His forgiveness when you can. For example, when Reuben slept with his father’s wife, the man did not say or do anything about it, even though he heard about it. Why? We are not told the reason in the account. It may be that he did not want to place a curse on him and ruin his life, especially since he was his first child. (Cf. Genesis 35:21-22)

But then, we also do not have it on record that Reuben did anything to seek God’s forgiveness and his father’s forgiveness. He just treated the matter as a non-issue, since his father said nothing about it. But when the time came for God to prophesy about his future and the future of his brothers through their father, his judgment came. He was told that he would no longer excel in life. And it was so. (Cf. Genesis 49:3)

Also, when the Amalekites came out to attack the Israelites in the wilderness unprovoked, they thought that the matter would end there. But the matter did not end there at all. Years later, God would visit them with judgment when Israel had their first king. And though the people responsible for the mess were long dead at the time, God paid their descendants the debt of judgment He owed their nation in full. (Cf. Exodus 17:9-16)

So, as I already pointed out, God’s judgment will surely come to each of us at the set time for everything we are doing. That is because judgment, as far as He is concerned, is a debt that He owes each of us. And He must pay it at the set time. We should, therefore, turn away from everything wicked to only what is good. That is the only way the judgment payments being made into our account by God will make us glad and not sorrowful.

From Pastor's Desk 2026 General Post Pastor's Desk

Title: Stop wasting His grace

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date July 11, 2026
No Comments on Title: Stop wasting His grace

ALAYTHIA BIBLE church

Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 10

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to another week of the month of July 2026. My prayer is that the grace of God that is continually being poured upon your life will never go to waste, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now I offered that prayer for you because it is possible for the grace of God to go to waste in our lives. In other words, it is possible for the grace of God to fail to accomplish what it is meant to accomplish in our lives. And that is why we are warned with these words of Apostle Paul that say:

“As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.” (2 Cor 6:1NIV)

Did you see that? It is possible to receive the grace of God in vain. How is that possible? It is possible through our failure to act on the word of God that is coming to us. Yes, it is possible for us to hear the word of God in a church meeting right now and then leave the meeting to go and do something entirely opposite what we have heard. Likewise, it is possible for us to read our bibles right now and then get up from reading it to go and do something entirely different from what we have just read.

Judas Iscariot, for example, sat with all the apostles of the Lord Jesus when He was sharing the word of God with them just before He was arrested and crucified. He was with them when the Lord washed their feet and taught them again the need to be devoted to serving one another in love. Yet he left them that same night to bring those who would arrest the Lord and crucify Him. Did he not, then, waste the grace of God that he had received? He did. (Cf. John 13)

Also, God speaking to Ezekiel about all the people coming to listen to his sermons, says this:

“As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.” (Ezek 33:30-32NIV)

Who was the Lord referring to in this text? Those who were eagerly coming to listen to Ezekiel’s sermons! He was not referring to those who had no interest at all in listening to him. Rather, He was referring to those who were eagerly coming to listen to his sermons. Yet these people that were coming to listen to this man of God had no intention of acting on what he was teaching them. In fact, the Lord told Ezekiel that he was nothing more than an entertainer to them. What, then, were those people doing to the grace of God coming to them? They were wasting it.

Now what does the bible say about those who waste the grace of God? It says that God’s judgment is bound to fall on them. I pray that His judgment will not fall on you. But don’t just keep on listening to His word and making no effort to act on it. Truly, you may have areas of your life in which you find yourself weak in acting on God’s word. All you need to do is call on Him to give you the needed strength to do His will in those areas. And He will answer you. (Cf. Heb 10:26-31)

Paul says this to us about his own attitude towards the grace of God:

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Cor 15:10NIV)

Did you see that? The reason Paul did not waste the grace of God upon his life was that he worked hard with the word of God that he was receiving. So, he became the person God wanted him to be. You too should begin to do likewise, if you truly want to be the person God wants you to be. And may the Spirit of God continually fill you with adequate strength to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely week.

Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: How to forgive

By: J.O. Lawal
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 8

“The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.” (2 Cor 2:6-8NIV)

Among the things we are shown in our opening text is that God is not only interested in our forgiving those who have hurt or offended us; He is also interested in the process we follow in forgiving them. Why? The reason is that it is the process that will determine whether the forgiveness we have given restores the person receiving it to right living or not.

For example, in forgiving Peter, our Lord Jesus did not merely forgive him with words of mouth; He also sought him out after His resurrection to comfort and restore Him. How? First, He sent an angel to tell the women that came to His tomb on the resurrection morning to tell Peter to come with the other disciples to see Him in Galilee (Mark 16:7).

Second, when He appeared to all of them, including Peter, He did not say a word about what the man had done. He did not tell him how much what he had done pained Him. He just would not say anything about it. Why? The reason was that Peter was already sorrowful enough about the matter. So, talking about it again would only make him more sorrowful. And that could totally drive him away from the Lord. Therefore, the Lord would not say anything about the case.

Third, the Lord gave Peter a new assignment. He specifically told him to take care of His sheep for Him. He, in fact, also went on to give him a revelation about his death in the future. Why? It was to comfort him, to reassure him of His love for him and to let him know that He had forgiven him and forgotten about the matter concerning his denial of Him. (Cf. John 21:15-19)

You can, then, see why Peter would go on and serve the Lord faithfully for the remaining years of his life. The forgiveness he received worked. The forgiveness he received brought about his complete restoration. And that was because of the way it was given to him by the Lord.

In the same vein, if we too want the forgiveness we give to people to work in their lives to change them and to set them right, we must pay attention to how we give it. We must do it as we are shown in our opening text and as illustrated or modelled for us by our Lord Jesus Christ in Peter’s case. How?

First, we must know when we don’t need to punish at all and when the punishment needs to end where we have to punish. We don’t need to punish at all or again when the guilty person has already admitted their error, are sorrowful about it and are desirous of our forgiveness.

Second, forgiveness must be accompanied with acts that will comfort and reaffirm our love for the person involved. If the person involved will not sincerely admit their error and apologise for it, then, that is a different issue. And where that is the case, we just need to forgive them in obedience to God and move on. God will deal with them according to His wisdom.

But where the person has already shown that they are sincerely unhappy about hurting us, then, we may have to do more than merely telling them that we forgive them with words of mouth. We may also have to look for them ourselves, if they are too shy to do so, in order to comfort them and to reaffirm our love for them. We may even have to embrace them, pray for them or do something with them just to assure them of the forgiveness we have given to them. That is what will produce true repentance, change their lives and heal our relationship with them.

Now remember that God had to treat all of us in this manner in order to bring us to Himself, change our lives and make our fellowship with Him beautiful. We too have to be willing to do the same for others that are in need of our forgiveness. Otherwise, the forgiveness we give may end up changing nothing about the lives of those receiving it or about our fellowship with them. How miserable will that kind of forgiveness be, then?

From Pastor's Desk 2026 Pastor's Desk

Title: Don’t run away from the truth

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date July 4, 2026
No Comments on Title: Don’t run away from the truth

By: J.O. Lawal
Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 15, No. 09

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to the month of July 2026. My prayer is that God will keep you humble all the time to embrace sound doctrine through faith in Christ Jesus, so that you will not become a victim of the lies of the devil in any area of your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the things we are told in the bible about the last days is that they are days in which many who called themselves believers in Christ Jesus will not want to accommodate sound doctrine. Look at what Paul says about this:

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Tim 4:3-4NIV)

Did you see that? The last days are days in which people will not put up with sound doctrine. They are days in which people will turn their ears away from the truth to stories that cannot edify them. They are also days in which there will be many bible teachers who, as Aaron did to the Israelites in the wilderness, will be teaching people what their itching ears want to hear, giving them what they want and not what they need. (Cf. Exodus 32)

But why will people who are known to be Christians not want to put up with sound doctrine or be running away from the truth that is meant to set them free? One main reason is that their hearts are not fully devoted to God. So, they are not serving Him because they have come to realise that it is the right thing for them to do. Rather, they are doing so because of what they hope to get from Him. That is why they keep going from on church to another church and from one prayer mountain to another prayer mountain.

Now will that make their lives better? No! It will not make their lives better because what they are doing can only give Satan more opportunities to mess their lives up through false pastors, prophets, evangelists and apostles. And there are many who have been victims in this manner and are not even bold enough to share their ugly experiences.

In any case, if you don’t want to become a victim of the lies and wickedness of the devil like them, don’t run away from the truth. Truly, the truth is not always sweet to hear. But if we will accept it and act on it, it will eventually make life sweet for us. I pray that God will daily strengthen you to embrace His truth, however bitter it may seem to your ears, so that all that concerns your life may be made sweet. Amen.

Have a lovely July 2026.

General Post

Title: He won’t judge it prematurely

Post author By Pastor J.O. Lawal
Post date July 2, 2026
No Comments on Title: He won’t judge it prematurely

Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 7

“”The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'”” (Matt 13:27-30NIV)

What we have in our opening text is part of the parable that our Lord told about God’s attitude towards evil in His kingdom. As the parable shows us, it is not every time God immediately deals with evil in the world or among His people once it shows up. There are times that He allows it to grow and mature before dealing with it.

But why does God sometimes allow evil to thrive for a period in a place before dealing with it? There are two main reasons for this, as we see in the parable we are considering. The first reason is that evil may be identified as evil in an unmistakable way.

See, unless some acts of evil are given some time to thrive and mature, people may not see them as truly evil and destructive. But when they are given enough time to thrive and destroy those doing them or those around them, everybody will agree that they are indeed evil and must be dealt with.

In the same way, unless some wicked people are given enough time and space to show themselves as wicked, those around them may not know them for what they really are. But when they are given enough time and opportunities to reveal themselves, everyone will know the truth about them and how to deal with them.

The second reason God sometimes gives evil room to thrive before dealing with it is that He may not hurt innocent and righteous people while dealing with it. You know there are times that righteous and good people may be so involved with wicked and bad people that there is no way God will judge those wicked and bad people and not hurt them. Sometimes, this may be because of their ignorance. And sometimes it may be because certain circumstances of life have yoked them together with the wicked.

In any case, because of His love for good and righteous people, God often waits until He is able to properly separate them from the wicked before carrying out His judgment on the wicked. And if we don’t understand this, we may think that He is slow in judging wickedness or that He is totally uninterested in judging it. But He will never fail to judge wickedness. It is just that He won’t judge it before the time to do so is ripe; He won’t judge it prematurely.

So, don’t lose heart, if wickedness seems to be thriving where you are, even though you can see it and are praying that God will deal with it. He will surely deal with it at the right time. And to say the fact, your own safety and the safety of others whom you love may just be the reason He is yet to judge it. So, remain patient, as you continue to do what is good and right.

Then you too, in dealing with life’s problems, should study to know when to allow some problems to fully reveal themselves before dealing with them. What is common with many of us is to deal with a problem immediately it surfaces. But there are some problems that will create more problems for us, if we deal with them prematurely. And it takes the wisdom of God to identify such problems and patiently wait for them to mature or full reveal themselves to us and everyone around us before dealing with them.

Therefore, learn to pray to God to daily furnish you with adequate wisdom and understanding to recognise the nature of every life problem you are dealing with, so that you will not deal with any problem prematurely and create more and bigger problems for yourself. And it shall be so.

Cheers!